The national labor situation

Despite the country's robust economic growth under the Aquino administration, poverty incidence has remained unchanged since 2006. Poverty incidence in the first semester of 2012 was pegged at 27.9 percent or “practically unchanged” from the same period in 2009 (28.6 percent) and in 2006 (28.8 percent). It has no statistical differences with the 2009 and 2006 poverty incidence for the same period. Economic growth over the past six years hardly made a dent in poverty incidence in the country, as the percentage of Filipinos living below the poverty line remained practically the same between 2006 and 2012. The number of poor people is even expected to increase in 2013 due to the country's unabated population growth and rising cost of prime commodities.

According to Moodys, a US-based economic think tank, the country's economy will likely to grow between 6.5 to 7 percent this year and if this favorable economic trend continues, growth rate could reach 8 percent by 2016 or at the end of Aquino's term. On the other hand, the Standard and Poor's has raised its growth forecast for this year from 5.9 to 6.5 percent. It expected the economy to post another robust growth of 6.3 percent in 2014.

But despite the rosy picture portrayed in economic growth, there is still a great income inequality and chronic poverty in the country.

The much-ballyhooed economic growth has not trickled down to the vast majority of the population particularly the working class, supposedly the engine of economic growth and progress. The employment-to-population ratio, representing the share of people of working age in employment, showed little improvement and was even on the downtrend in recent years. This means that economic growth and the recent recovery have not been matched with similar growth in employment opportunities.

Employment

The Labor Force Survey (LFS) has revealed that there were approximately 37.94 million employed persons as of January 2013. This figure translates to an employment rate of 92.9 percent which is similar to the employment rate of 92.8 percent reported in January 2012. Out of the total of 37.94 million employed persons, majority or 54.1 percent were in the service sector. Comprising the second largest group or 30.4 percent were in the agriculture sector while those in the industry sector made up the smallest group of 15.54 percent of the total employed persons in the country. By region, Cagayan Valley registered the highest employment rate of 96.7 percent, a slight difference from Zamboanga Peninsula with 96.6 percent. The National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the lowest employment rate of 90.5 percent.

Unemployment

Unemployment rate in January 2013 was estimated at 7.1 percent, a slight difference to the 7.2 percent unemployment rate in 2012. Unemployment rate was highest in the NCR at 9.5 percent and lowest in Cagayan Valley at 3.3 percent. Among the unemployed, 63.6 percent were males. Almost half of the unemployed or 49.3 percent were aged 15 to 24 years old. By educational attainment, about one-third or 33.7 percent of the unemployed were high school graduates, 13.1 percent college undergraduates and 16.9 percent college graduates.

The National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB) has reported that as of January 2013, the number of Filipinos who are jobless stood at 7.1 percent, 20.9 percent underemployed or those working fewer than 40 hours per week. About 41.8 percent of the underemployed are in the agriculture sector.  This sector ranks second (30.4 percent) to the service sector (54.1 percent) out of the total number of employed persons in the country.

According to the NSCB, a Filipino family of five must need at least P5,458 to meet basic food needs every month. Families earning that amount are considered to be in “extreme poverty” level. To meet both food and non-food needs, a family of five would need at least P7,821 for such essential needs as food, clothing, transportation, health and education every month. A family earning this much is considered to be living in “poverty.”

The NSCB estimated that the government needs at least P79.7 billion to eliminate poverty for the first semester alone. On the contrary, the government has allocated P39.4 billion for its conditional cash transfer (CCT), a palliative  program designed to alleviate the plight of the poorest among the poor Filipinos. The drawback of this program is that it is not a long-term solution to the country's burgeoning problem of poverty and at the same time it encourages mendicancy among its recipients. By province, Lanao del Sur registered the poorest with 68.9 percent poverty incidence followed by Apayao (59.8 percent), Easter Samar (59.4 per cent), Maguindanao (57.8 percent) and Zamboanga del Norte (50.3 percent).

The country's economic model depended on consumption, strong remittances from its large overseas workforce and the business process outsourcing (BO) industry. These are factors that contributed greatly to the country's economic growth but at the same time these are industries most prone to a “boom-and-bust” cycle. In short, there is no guarantee that these industries will sustain the country's economic growth in the future.